Page 20 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

To knowledgeable observers of the Vietnameee scene'
however, the situation was not at a1I certain. The problems o{ paci-
fication rernained very rnuch unsoLved. Enemy - c ontr o1led areas inclu-
ded a large percentage of the Vietnarnese countryside. The V.C'
infrastructure in various areas either rernained intact or recorded
an expansion that sornetirnes brought the enemy right to the fringes
of big cities and townshiPs.

In the final rnonths of. 1967 the situation was beEt reflec-
ted in the nurnber of political assassinations and terrorist activities
which were rnainly airned at governrnent of Vietnarn (GVN) adrninistra-
tive cad.res at the village and hamlet levels. Taking advantage of the
situation created by these incidents the enerny silently infiltrated arrns
and rnen into the rno€t secure GVN areas.

Cutwardly, however, the situation rernained ca1rn, there-
by facilitating enemy trooP rnovernents throughout the land' At the ap-
proach of Tet, with the exception of Khe Sanh, a relative 1u11 seemed
to be prevailing all over South Vietnarn. In the context of this situation
leaves were readily granted the troops for the lunar New Year and
la)easure s were taken by the Adrninistration to give the cornmon people
as norr:nal a Tet as pos sible.

Prernier Nguyen Van Loc, for exarnple, signed an order
authorizing the people to enjoy the practice of using firecracker in the
four-day period ending tr'ebruary Z, as rnay be deerned fit by the local
authorities. The sound of firecrackers could be heard in Saigon-Cho-
lon over ten days before the Ne\rzYear aciually began' The people had
forgotten about the dying war' They " -{'nted to celebrate Tet with as
rnuch fervor as in the old days'

Perspectives
Looking back a couple of yearE one may have a better
assessment of the Tet eventa. The War Cabinet o{ Air Vice Marshal
Nguyen Cao Ky was forrned in rnid-1955 amidst considerable popular
expectations. The Vice Marshal and hie colleagues were rnostly young
men whose personalities captured the imagination of the people'

Even in the early days of the Ky adrnini str ation, revolution-
ary ideals and reforrns no longer were viewed aE distant, unreachable
ideas. The Prernier and his cabinet rninisters insisted on being called
Chairrnan of the Central Executive Cornmittee and Commissioners
General. The people were pleased to see cabinet rnernber s wear grey

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